A thread to take our minds off all that is going on.

I live in a major tourist destination - Santa Fe, New Mexico. In many ways we love our tourists because we have great restaurants, opera, shops that we would not have without them. August is the peak of our tourist season and the locals (me) can no longer park downtown or right outside a restaurant. I have to sit in a two block long traffic snarl when driving through town (okay, this isn't bad, but we are used to no traffic here).

At the end of August, we heave a collective sigh of relief as the town empties. Tourists leave, second home owners go back to Texas (and other places).

I saw two anti-tourist bumper stickers this week:

- Bad Tourist! No Turquoise!

- If it is Tourist Season, why can't we hunt them?

Anyone else in a tourist town with funny bumper stickers?

On Cape Cod there is an auto sticker reading something like "Cape Cod Tunnel: Resident's Permit" which is kind of an in-joke for the locals. Of course, there is no tunnel from the mainland to the Cape, but someone thought it would be funny to see how many naive tourists frustrated by bridge traffic would fall for it and try to get permits for the non-existent tunnel.

I can't say what is on our bumber stickers in the land of one millionare every 5 miles because it would violate the no politics rule.

Ginger

Here in Maine on Sept 4th things get back to "normal" at least till the fall leaf peppers come into town then once the snow flys and the ski folks show up.

I saw a sticker that said "you cant get there from here, now go home"

Sue ....looking forward to Sept 4th with less traffic!!!

Pauline, and to think I was one of them! One of my favorite destinations . . .

Vegas no longer has a quiet or off season. Plus too many people have decided they like it and want to move here. That isn't really meant as a nasty crack (well, not entirely) but we do have water issues. And traffic is terrible all year and twenty four hours a day/night.
When I was young, Thanksgiving and Christmas were when the hotel showrooms went dark and the hotels did the room painting and refreshing. Now it is just a on-going process. Of course, if a hotel gets too old, say ten years old, we just blow it up and build another one.
I haven't seen any bumper stickers such as you are referring to. Tuesday is our polical primary and most of the car stickers are very pointed about that.
I grew up here and in New Mexico and always wanted to retire Santa Fe, but the prices there have just outpaced me. It is one of the greatest places on earth...and that New Mexico green chile, what I wouldn't give for some. Sigh.

I'm from Santa Fe too. Years ago I remember a bumper sticker for winter visitors: If God wanted Texans to ski he would have given them a mountain.

I agree with Pauline about the goods and bads of living in a tourist town.

I remember hating a bumper sticker that was popular when I lived in Colorado in the 1980's. It looked like the familiar green and white Colorado license plate, and it read "Welcome to Colorado. Now go home."

Yeah, Colorado folks are nice to tourists... cause they know they'll leave shortly. Not so to new residents.
Some of the bumper stickers I've seen emmulate that license plate image (green mountain sillouette, white background & letters) with just the word "Native" or "Local" on it. The contempt used to focus on Texans, it has switched of late to Californians. Not sure what either group did to earn this scorn (and not one "Local" or "Native" can explain it to me either).
It used to bother me, but after meeting more and more people here I've only met ONE real native Coloradoan.

Short story:
One night at a party a man was ranting on about how terrible Californians are to me (after hearing I would be moving there in the next month or so) with the preface, "No offense, but..." His girlfriend butts in to remind him he's only lived in Colorado for 15 years after living his life in Youngstown, Ohio. Shut him right up.

Everyone's from somewhere.

All this doesn't really jive tho with my favorite bumper sticker: KEEP BOULDER WEIRD!
How can ya keep it weird if all your people are of the same variety?

Hehehe - Pauline, I know what you mean, except our don't arrive until Oct. and they leave in May. Scottsdale, AZ is a wee bit hot in the summer.

We call them snowbirds, and they help our local economy, so we cannot complain too much. But driving is much, much worse - people taking left turns out of the right lane or vice versa.

Downtown Boston has the tourists; a few miles up Comm. Ave, we have the students. First weekend the dorms open brings the double-parked U-Hauls, station wagons loaded to the gills with stereo equipment and nervous mommies, and double the usual time between pizza order and delivery. Football games means not being able to drive major roads in my neighborhood, and graduation weekend means spent fireworks coming into my yard from the Law School.

The local small businesses get more income, neighbors with small kids get great sitters, I get to see what the young and fit are wearing and reading in the coffee shop, and on warm days, the men's track team runs past my house in the minimum of clothing.

I can totally feel your pain, Amy. I live next door to a university as well and I always dread the return of the students in the fall. The traffic is dreadful in my neighboorhood at certain peak times like early in the morning or early afternoon. I also find it rather funny that the sidelines of all the streets have recently been filled with large heaps of furniture and carpet scraps. It seems the landlords wait until the very last minute to get the apartments freshened up for the incoming student tenants! I'm also not looking forward to the noise level going up at night now that I work every morning.

Although one plus is that some of the restaurants have better hours during the school year and run extra discount specials...

As a resident of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, we had been inundated with tourists from all over the country, coming to see the new casino area. As a result, we had about 30 casinos all along the coastline. Beau Rivage and two or three others were exceptional, but they were all nice. The entertainment offerings were constant and varied. The restaurant choices were over the top. We realized that the traffic along Highway 90 (which runs all along the coast) was becoming a nightmare!

Then Katrina hit...

No more problems...


I'm wishing for the tourists again...

Jennifer

I live in Sonoma part time. I don't mind having lots of people here on the weekends and during high season. I like to give advice on places to eat, drink and shop. The traffic can be bothersome at times, but I am able to figure out when and when not to leave my house. I figure everyone is also enjoying the same things I love about living here.

I do admit that I also like low season when I can easily walk into a very good restaurant and not have any wait, or going to a winery during the middle of the week and tasting lots of local wines and casually talking to the winemakers.

I don't think it's such a bad thing to have tourists come to town. I figure, I'm a tourist when I go to their town.

gloria

Washington, DC, is big enough to were it doesn't feel like a tourist town, but there is quite a lot of tourists here. I usually like it, and find that most of those/us who live here are helpful to tourists; I always stop if I see someone with a map looking confused. The only thing that sometimes annoys me is when I am trying to get on the metro and some huge family is blocking all escalators, stairs etc. so that I miss my train!

Speaking of tourists on the metro, I just had to speak up a few weeks ago when a man (definitely a tourist) was holding the door open with his hands, trying to get his whole group on the train, while the speakers kept saying "step away from the doors" over and over. I have seen those doors hurt people before, so when they were finally on (everyone on the train was mad!) I said "Sir, I am sorry but that is really dangerous; I have seen people get hurt before." And he got so angry! Ooops.

Boy, I can't imagine what people in Rome and places like that go through, when they are trying to get to work and people like me crowd the platform asking questions in bad Italian!

As far as bumper stickers go, as you can imagine, they are all political here in DC!

I lived in San Luis Obispo for a time... unless you live in California, and possibly not even then, you will not have heard of this place. It's on the central coast and it's essentially a college town, but more and more it is becoming a tourist area simply because it has great weather and all the fantastic things that come with being a college town-- independent theatres, quirky restaurants, great local shops, etc etc. I found that, aside from the traffic, I really don't mind the influx of students and tourists. It makes things seem livelier and everyone is always out enjoying themselves. And then when the town empties out, it's also refreshing, but after a while it gets a bit lonely... so I welcome everyone back again!

quote:

Originally posted by Pauline:
A thread to take our minds off all that is going on.

I live in a major tourist destination - Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I saw two anti-tourist bumper stickers this week:

- Bad Tourist! No Turquoise!

- If it is Tourist Season, why can't we hunt them?

Anyone else in a tourist town with funny bumper stickers?

So many snowbirds - so little freezer space.

And

Send more snowbirds - the last ones were delicious.

Good ones Mary!!

Suzanne, we know SLO - one of the many places in California that was on our short list for a place to live (we have since given up the search and decided Santa Fe is good enough!!). We stayed a some hot springs resort south of town last time - had a great visit. I had the best avocado of my life at the hotel restaurant!! California sure does know how to do avocados!!

DC is funny all year round. We don't need bumper stickers. But, yes, we all heave a sigh of relief after Labor Day weekend because we can get seats on the subway again.

By the way, if you do not have children in school, the time to come is in October. Spring is filled with school groups and summer with families. Two more weeks before the town empties again.

It is Indian Market in Santa Fe this weekend! After that everything changes - that is the end of the summer tourist season. Plus Indian Market is great - we will be going to it.

We have had overcast and rain nearly every afternoon for a month and a half! Usually by now the monsoon season is over and we have beautiful weather.

Both in Montana and here in Northern Idaho, we have bumper stickers that say
"Don't Californiacate our state"

i am formally from Daytona Beach Florida; so yes tourist were dreaded;too much noise;crime;etc. but it was the only thing that kept many on the job or it would have been dead.

Now i am near Paris both inmensibly touristic Paris and Versailles; and yes French are not that amuzed of tourists but understand its a livelyhood for thousands;need to put up. Of course no bumper stickers here oh la la that would be a faux pas!!!

we live in San Diego, and yes it is a tourist town---we love to coount the out of state license plates!! And in the summer time we have (pardon me please) the Zonies, they come to escape the heat. Our days are hot but the nights are cool so if you come here bring a sweater. There is lots to see and we welcome visitors but make a reservation if you come to our house, please!!
Pauline, you live in one of my favorite places to go visit, and i have been to that famous market many times, and i wish i were there this weekend. My husband is glad that i am not because i take home too much.
S.K. a Little Old Lady===LOL

I no longer live in Napa but do work here. From my office window, I see the tourists walking around and occasionally driving - they're easy to spot as they attempt to turn right onto the one way street (against traffic) below my office. Can make for an amusing day.

I rarely venture "up valley". I remember the days of trying to drive the speed limit on Highway 29 and getting trapped behind the tourists marveling at the beauty of the Napa Valley who were driving 25mph or less. And heaven forbid if you were driving along and had Bob Mondavi tailgating you - he was a ferocious driver, shaking his fist, and driving perhaps a bit over the speed limit. We all were grateful the day he got a chauffeur.